Before the Summer's Over
Alice will definitely come home. I just know it.
It's that instinctive feeling between twins that no one else could ever understand. If she really was gone for good, I would definitely know. One day I could be gardening with Mama, and the next thing I know, I would collapse onto the dirt, unconscious. I would feel like a part of me was missing. But that's not the case. I still feel whole.
Let me start from the beginning, just to fill you in on what's going on.
When Alice and I were only twelve years old, we disappeared one day. There was not a single trace of where we could've wandered off too. From what I was told, Papa immediately called for a search party. He combed through the whole town; every house, every shop, every lake. He even went as far as sending his story to the local newspaper, which eventually reached the state newspaper. Mama was extremely worried, and prayed every day for our safe return.
We were supposedly missing for a week.
For a full week, Alice and I didn't exist.
We were last seen at the local park next to Lake Jordan. Alice and I were playing hide and seek at the playground. I was never good at hiding, but I never failed at being the seeker. Alice was very good at hiding, and I eventually began searching near the fence that keeps the children from entering the woods. I noticed a hole in the fence, and figured that she snuck under the fence in her attempt to best me.
I crawled under the wired fence and walked into the woods, searching carefully for Alice. After half an hour, I was about ready to tell her I had given up when I heard a scream. I immediately panicked and ran in the direction of the scream. I quickly looked back to try and remember how I got this far when I crashed into someone. As I fell, I heard my sister's voice, mumbling something under her breath. I looked into her eyes and she looked frightened by something. Or someone.
I let my eyes wander and saw what made her so scared. I flinched away from the awful sight and pinched my nose to block the fetid stench. There were bodies. Obviously dead. My brain was screaming at me to run back toward the fence with Alice. But, I felt myself start walking further into the forest. My sister was petrified, and could only grasp my arm tightly as we kept walking.
We finally stopped walking when we saw the oddest thing in the middle of several oak trees. A tea party set. It was finer than the set we had at home, I admit. However, what caught my eye was a card on the center of the table. I told my sister to grab the card, and she hesitated for a moment. She said that she had a bad feeling about this, but grabbed the card anyway. It was the ace of hearts.
A yellow heart.
I held the other side of the card to try to take it from her when the yellow heart glowed and suddenly disappeared. We quickly let go of the now blank card, and stared wearily it at when it fell to the ground. I raised my left hand to rub my eye when I noticed something different. The heart moved to my hand. Then I realized that it wasn't a heart, but half the yellow heart. Thinking quickly, I grabbed Alice's hand and ignored her protests as I examined it. The other half was on her hand. Alice froze when she saw the offending image on her hand looked at me.
She asked me what we were going to do, while she held up her right hand. Before I could answer, I heard footsteps approaching. I felt relieved, figuring it was Papa probably looking for us. But that smell. I stopped in mid-step and pulled Alice back towards me. The putrid stench from the bodies was getting stronger, and I didn't want to wait to find out why. Alice apparently figured this out before me, because I was jolted from my thoughts and we ran even deeper into the forest. Speaking of which, was it just me, or did the forest seem a lot bigger than what it looks like from back at the park?
We kept running, and Alice called out to me, saying she can see a door ahead of us. I checked all around, but there was no door in sight. Next thing I knew, I tripped over a tree root and my sister fell down with me. We frantically tried to get up without stumbling, and that's when I heard a whisper.
The voice said to jump through the door. I could now see the door my sister spoke of, and I yanked her in front of me. I told her to not let go of me no matter what. And before she could even scream, I jumped.
I felt like I was floating. Everything was calm and peaceful. Then I was dropped to the ground onto my feet. I heard a relieved voice, asking if I was alright, but it wasn't my sister's voice. I whipped my head to the side and saw a man dressed in blue. He seemed pretty nice, and I hoped he could help us. My sister released my arm and demanded answers from the guy. He first introduced himself as Kaito. He asked us how we got here and we told him our story. When we showed him our hands, he had a look of pity on his face and pointed to his left eye covered with an eye patch. He removed the eye patch and told us to look closely in his eye. Alice and I leaned forward and gasped in shock. There was a blue diamond in place of his pupil.
He explained how we weren't the only ones with this misfortune. He said he had been here for months, searching for a way home. And then he began to explain why we were here. There once was a dream. This little dream wanted to share itself with the world, but no one dreamt of him. So. after many years, he plotted to make people enter his world. And succeeded. Kaito explained how there were two others that were wandering around this world. One of which we fortunately avoided. He said that her name was Joanna. She was the only who killed all those people. And the other one was also a girl whose name was Miku. He said Miku's name with a sadness in his voice, I think he knew her.
Kaito said that those who enter this world become a slave to their desire. I didn't quite understand, until Alice asked him what his sin was. Kaito sighed and just warned the both of us to avoid any sins or evil desire. He stood up and told us that it takes two people to get out of this world. A door appeared nearby; it's color was blue. He smiled softly and said that we are now able to leave this part of the strange world. Alice offered him to join us, but reminded her that he was already trapped here. And that the door wouldn't work for him.
So we gave our goodbyes and walked through the door. Alice tightened her hold onto my hand as we passed through the door.
For what seemed like the next few weeks, the two of us worked together to fight off whatever monster tried to get us, whatever obstacle we came across. However, it always seemed like she was babying me during fights. Alice was getting so much stronger than me, and I felt belittled. I didn't know why, but I felt a small pain in my chest everytime I hated my sister. We miraculously passed the next part of what we called "Wonderland" and landing in what seemed like the last part.
This area was all yellow, like our heart. It was a beautiful meadow all around, and I couldn't believe my eyes when I looked at a nearby hill. The final door was at the top. My sister squealed in delight and we ran towards the hill without a second thought. I got a head start, but Alice already passed me and kept going.
I couldn't help it. I was jealous of my sister. All that running and fighting gave her a pretty good figure, while I was still the scrawny boy who tripped over almost anything. I felt that pain again but this time it didn't really hurt. I was confused but I focused on pushing myself to reach my sister. She beat me to the door and started teasing me. Then she smirked and mentioned how when we got home, she would definitely pass physical education now.
I gave her a faint smile and winced when I suddenly felt the pain all over my body. My brain was sending my nerves all these pain messages, but it was like my body was numb. I couldn't control my movements.
Alice reached for the door with her right hand, but I grabbed her shoulder. She looked at me with confusion, and gasped when I threw her onto the ground. I didn't understand it, why was I hurting my sister?
Suddenly, the colors of Wonderland changed. It was now a mix of blue, green, red, and yellow. My head looked up and I could feel myself smirking. I saw Kaito stalking up the hill with an evil look on his face, followed by two other girls. I heard my sister gasp and she tried to get up. My foot collided with her stomach and she scrunched up in fetal position, coughing.
I felt tears forming in my eyes as she lay there on the ground. She looked up just in time to see the tears fall and apparently knew what happened to me. I heard her yelling at me to snap out of it, and give up my desire. I couldn't understand what she meant. I could only watch in horror as the now psychotic killers neared my sister and I turned away. I felt myself walk to the door. I jumped. But not without hearing one last scream.
...And so here I am now.
Did I forget to mention that I can no longer age?
Yes, it's true. I am still a pathetic 12-year-old boy. Now sitting in a dusty old house all alone. My parents died of old age, and I don't have any relatives that I know of. It's been years since I've played with other children. It just seems so weird. I have the mentality of an adult but I've been twelve for almost 80 years now. I've been to several hospitals and even an asylum. I escaped from every single one of them. I used to dream of the same day every night. Her face when she forgave me over and over to try and bring me back. I know that she's too strong to give in so easily. But her scream still haunts me.
No one believes my story of what happened. It seems to be a waste that such a story isn't shared with the world. Maybe I should change it around. Maybe there were no killers in this story. Maybe there was a cute animal of some sort helping the lost girl find her way home. Instead of a silly little dream in charge of the world, maybe a king and queen. And the lost girl will have a pretty name, like Alice.
But I have plenty of time to decide on that.
Oh look, it's July again. Another summer about to end.
But I know that before the summer's over...
Alice will definitely come home.
A/N: I had many doubts about posting this one. The narrator should be obvious if you watched the video Alice Human Sacrifice. This is an AU, written for an English assignment. From like, two years ago. I fixed it best I could, I hope.